The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-02
JAPANESE GHOST MYTH.
Tn Which it is Illustrated How Love
ConQuers Death.
From, the Overland Monthly for October.

E,,,,, fbe Overland Monthly for October.
Once upon time there lived in the city
~ Tzvoto. a poor samurai, who could find
no employment or means of support. On
account of his poverty he determined one
dav TO 90 with friend to distant prov
ince Now. this friend had just been ap-
pouted Governor of the province and prom
missed, when they arrived, that he would
find work for him to do.
This samurai had been married to young,
nrettv. and charming lady ;but miSfortunes
overlook him, and when his wealth was lost
he divorced his young wife, and alas, after
q brief interval, espoused the daughter of a
vven-to-do nobleman; and now, starting on
his travels from the old city of Kyoto this
second wife journeyed with him. After
many months had passed he became a rich
and honored man and then began to long
for his first fair wife, whose gentle ways
and graceful form were ever in mis- mind
The remembrance that he had driven her
from him in poverty and sorrow, and her
,,atient resignation, gentle obedience and
falling tears, cut him to the heart. He felt
that he must see her once again, no matter
how far the Journey His constant thoughts
were: what is she doing now! Where
Is she today Does she still remember
her uQIdlL1lul W no NlION6 uti lIOll
his sidem-All the old love blaZed up anew,
and his one hope was to return to the old
home.
Just at this time, his kind patron, the
Governor. was called to Kyoto and the sam
,lrai learned with delight that he was to ac
company him. Only few days passed on
the Journey, and yet they seemed like so
many centuries of time At night he could
not rest, for he was forever torturing him
self with the thought that he had sent her
away from him without any just cause. and
more than this, that since that day he had
never made any loving inquiries about her.
SO soon as the Governor and his suite ar
rived in Kyoto, the samurai, still in travel
ing costume, hurried to the place where his
house had stood SO long ago. The gate
was bolted and everything looked neglected
and Distressing. The house itself seemed
deserted as though no living being occupied
it. Unhappy wife," thought he, how
great have been thy SORROWS" and he wept
Bitterly. 1t was at the close of the Novem-
Der month, and night had settled upon the
place as he stepped across the well-known
threshold. The pale moonbeams shone
through crevices in the walls, and the night
wind sighed as it circled round the lonely
dwelling.
Startled, yet determined, he entered the
room where formerly he had spent so many
happy hours with the loveliest of wives, and
there, see! in the corner, bending above the
hearth, stood his dear, lost wife She was
quite alone, and strange silence pervad-
ed the room. Reused from her dreamy
thoughts by his football, the poor lady saw
before her the husband she still loved so
dearly, and without word of reproach, her
face beaming with joy, she sprang towards
him.
"Ah, my beloved one," she exclaimed,
''whence CONTEST thou, and what brings thee
to meF ......-
81 have been far from here" he answer
ed, 'but my heart has never forgotten its
love. leone back now, patient wife, to
turn thy sorrow into joy; from this time
thou shalt never leave me, and l will keep
thee and cherish thee until l die. | have
not come to tell thee the story of the years
away from thee, but to make penance for
the wrong l have done thee and implore
thy forgiveness" These tender words made
the poor wife. exceedingly happy and she
entreated him to sit at her side, and then
began mutual confidence in which they
spoke of the incidents of their sad separa-
ton.
Every where the samurai observed evil
dences of the greatest poverty
Hast thou no one to help thee" he
asked ......
NO" she softly replied mo one has
has been in the house except myself, for l
am very poor"
The whole night slipped by in questions
and answers and tender plans for the future
Sleep did not visit their eyelids until the
gray dawn.
The sun stood far above the horizon when
the samurai awoke. He raised himself to
look at his beloved, still sleeping wife; but
who can describe his horror when he saw
the stiff outline Of a crumbling corpse in
steal of being warm with life. MY
eyes deceive me-" he thought, and again
gazed upon the terrible figure. Alas, at his
side lay only a corpse. Half dead with fear,
he ran out of the CHASTITY chamber and soon
reached a neighbours dwelling. In answer
to his loud knocking, the owner of the house
came to the door; and when the almost
breathless samurai asked:
"Who lives in yonder housem he an
Swered.
mo one, the house is quite deserted"
care you quite sure" said the sam
urai
Certainly" replied the neighbor, ''some
time ago there lived there poor lady who
had been separated from her husband.
The husband went to distant province and
left her in great poverty She mourned
for him so constantly that she became Sc
iously ill; but as no one offered to help her
she died alone there last summer, and SO
far as | know, her corpse may still be there,
forno one offered to pay her funeral ex-
penses."
A great fear fell upon the samurai, upon
hearing these words, and he fed like one
crazed with terror, for now ne knew
what had happened. The dead wife had
not forgotten her love even in that land
beyond the grave, and the gods had per-
mitted her spirit to stay on earth until her
husband came back for forgiveness. A sad
story!